Foreign Correspondence

[Ace Hanlon]

Shia cleric blames US forces for Sunday massacre
[ Monday, March 13, 2006 06:52:58 pmIANS ]


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BAGHDAD: Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr held the US forces responsible on Monday for the bombings in Sadr city, one of the poorest districts of Baghdad, that claimed over 40 lives.

"I hold the occupying forces responsible for orchestrating this event," Muqtada told a press conference in Najaf.

He said terrorists carried out the bombing "under US air cover" arguing that the halt of telephone connections before the incident was proof of the cooperation between the terrorists and the occupier to "destabilise the security of this Shia region.

"I find Sunnis and Shias innocents of this act," he added.

Two car bombs and mortars in Sadr City late on Sunday killed some 40 and injured over 90 people.

Muqtada also mocked a statement of US Defence Secretary Ronald Rumsfeld, in which he said that US forces would not interfere if a civil war broke out in Iraq.

"This is a sheer lie," he remarked. "What is their duty if they do not protect the security of Iraq?"